Pocket Trumpet, Multi-Instrumentalist, Bandleader (1936-1995)

Born in Oklahoma City and raised in the Watts neighbourhood of Los Angeles, Don Cherry became known in 1958 through Ornette Coleman's quartet, the band that rewired what jazz could sound like on The Shape of Jazz to Come and Free Jazz. The pocket trumpet became his signature, a smaller, voice-like horn that suited his bent notes and his preference for short, declarative lines over fast technical runs. After Coleman he co-led The Avant-Garde with John Coltrane (Atlantic, 1961), then signed to Blue Note as a leader, beginning with Complete Communion (1965). By the late 1960s he had moved to Sweden with his wife Moki, and his music opened outward to bamboo flutes, the doussn'gouni, Indian and North African modes. He spent the rest of his life moving between traditions, through the Mu duo sessions with Ed Blackwell (BYG, 1969-70), Codona with Naná Vasconcelos and Collin Walcott (ECM, 1978-82), and Old and New Dreams reuniting the Coleman quartet.